Primal Scream . Webadelica

Fathers on the Barricades

Electronic punk paranoia and Kate Moss? You never know what to expect from Primal Scream. This summer nothing is gonna be more important than their new album. Or to see play live somewhere. Groove has done two interviews. Mani tells how they have grown up and stopped drugging themselves to death. And Bobby is singing Destiny's Child for Thomas Nilson and photographer Johannes Giotas when they meet him in Stockholm.

Bobby Gillespie is having breakfast on the balcony to his hotel room in Stockholm. It is the end of May and the night before there was a promotion party for Primal Screams new album in the city. Bobby who was flown in to take part in the party was there for ten minutes. He got tired and went back to his hotel.

I didn't feel like being social, he explains. I wanted to go home and listen to Big Star.

Even now out on the balcony he is playing Big Star, more specifically Jesus Christ from their third album Sister Lovers. And the reason turns out to be the fact that Bobby became a father a couple of months ago. Yesterday morning before I came here I played Jesus Christ on acoustic guitar for my son. He laughed while I was singing to himÖ it was a happy moment. I hadn't listened to that album for a very long time, but after that I just had to bring it here. I listened to Jesus Christ before I went to sleep last night and the first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to listen to it again.

Bobby, who to begin with answer all questions with single words lights up when he gets the chance to talk about music he likes. And he gets even more enthusiastic when he starts to talk about his new favourite band Sugababes! Their single 'Freak Like Me' is absolutely fantastic. Mani loves it too. Do you like it?

I liked the ginger one who left.
Ah, I don't know anything about that, but the album is really cool. Besides that the best song for a couple of years has been 'Bootylicious' by Destiny's Child. Fantastic song.

- Beyonce, can you handle this?, Bobby sings something he continues to do anytime during the interview. In the end of July the new Primal Scream album, apparently called 'Evil Heat' is gonna be released. An album that won't sound much like English teenage bands or American r'n'b divas. Bobby has described it as half weird psychedelic electronic music and half explosive white rock'n'roll. And this is pretty much the way the seven tracks from the album released for the press sounds. Bobby and the rest of the band still make violent heroin rock with Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine as they did on the last album Exterminator. They have made peace with Andrew Weatherall the man who ten years ago produced most of the songs on Primal Screams big masterpiece Screamadelica. This time Weatherall has been involved on three tracks. Especially the hypnotic beautiful Autobahn 66, by Bobby described as "Neu meets Beach Boys" and "The best Primal Scream has done since Higher Than the Sun".

The two songs mixed by legendary disco producer Giorgio Moroder are not to be found on the promo cd. The same goes for The Lord is My Shotgun where Robert plant plays harmonica and the cover version of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's 'Some Velvet Morning' on which Bobby duets with Kate Moss. She is a friend of ours and we thought she would be perfect for the song. She is actually a good singer. Kate Moss is a real rock'n'roll girl.

A new Primal Scream album is always a big event. It has been like that since Sreamadelica raised the standards for what British bands could do on record. It became a classic the moment it was released and contrary to a lot of other albums hailed in the early 90's, like Massive Attacks 'Blue Lines' and Bjorks 'Debut', 'Screamadelica' still sounds surprisingly good today. No other band has succeeded in creating an equally perfect meeting between rock and dance music. The message? "I'm gonna get high until the day I die".

The next album, 'Give Out But Don't Give Up' was an anticlimax. The Screams went to America and got lost between too many drugs and too much boogierock.

'Vanishing Point' was their second masterpiece. Primal Scream wrote some of their best songs ever and covered them in dub, krautrock and sampled film lines from the b-film that gave the album its name. And a couple of months later Adrian Sherwood made a psychotic dub version of the album.

And then the extremely aggressive Exterminator that was made on the anger over NATO's global fascism.

But to ask Bobby about Primal Scream old albums is not a great idea. I don't listen to them. We never look back, only ahead. Once an album is recorded and we have played it live that's it nothing else. Actually I played Accelerator at my girlfriend's recently and it sounded great.

The political anger on 'Exterminator' was actually meant to be followed by another powerful attack on the new album. It didn't happen. After September 11th they chose to change the lyrics to the, already before the terror attacks, controversial song 'Bomb the Pentagon'. It is now called 'Rise'.

- The original title would have distracted the song. It was way too obvious and sensationalistic. Rock'n'roll must have more mystery to it. And the song is about much more than that. About alienation of the working class. Pornographication of militarism. The drug culture as a way of controlling the people. You are playing Arvika this summer.
- Yeah, we like Swedish festivals. There's always a good atmosphere and people really like Primal Scream, in take Germany, no one there has ever head of us.

- Did you know that Destiny's Child played in Stockholm last night? No one said anything I really wanted to go and see them Beyonce, can you handle this? Bobby suddenly sees what is on MTV that is on silent in the hotel room. Yes, it is Sugababes. He rushes to the TV and turns up the volume. He calls for Mani who has just showed up on the balcony and a second later he is clenched to the TV.
- It's amazing, Mani says.
- It's a classic, Bobby says.

They are almost ecstatic. Bobby demonstrates for Mani how Sugababes moved when they were on Top of the Pops. Mani tries to engage Bobby in the question of whether the blonde who came in instead of the ginger-haired used to be in Atomic Kitten or not. And then the song ends and Bobby puts Big Star on again.

Three weeks earlier. Mani sits in his flat in Manchester doing telephone interviews. Manchester is cold and grey and terribly lonely. The recording of the album is coming to an end. Mani sounds enthusiastic when he talks about the new album. The electronic roots from 'Screamadelica' are there and a lot of the punk rock from Exterminator. It's confusing electronic punk paranoia, and we are very proud of it. It is so much fun to be in Primal Scream right now.

Andrew Weatherall is back as producer on a couple of songs. And that's really cool. Andrew never lets you down, he knows what he is doing and he knows what Primal Scream is about, and what he is doing for us always turns out really really well.

But when he worked on Vanishing Point things went wrong?
- Yeah, but I think we were all a bit fucked up at that time. Primal Scream was fucked up on drugs and stuff and Andrew probably didn't know where he was going with the album. But I think we have all grown up since then, become more mature and maybe a little more self-confident, so I think it was the right time for Andrew to work with us again.

You managed to get Giorgio Moroder to work with you? - Yes, Giorgio did a couple of mixes for us. We have a more electronic angle on this album and Giorgio is the king of electronica.

Do you like disco?
I love disco! I think everybody in Primal Scream has been in love with disco for quite a long time now. If we could do disco with punkrock guitars I think it could be very good. At least it would be a very weird combination.
You have also had Kate Moss and Robert Plant in the studio?
- Ha ha ha, sure, is that fucking bizarre? We met Robert in the pub around the corner from the studio and asked him if he wanted to play harmonica on one of our songs and he said ìsure, I'll be there at half three tomorrowî and he just showed up and played and it went really well.
And Kate Moss?
- Kate had never sung on and album before but she was top. Not just a pretty face.
So it won't sound like the Naomi Campbell album then?
- Ha ha ha...no. Kate Moss is much more in control than Naomi Campbell could ever dream of. Mani or Gary Mounfield, which is his real name, joined Primal Scream in the fall in 1996, right after The Stone Roses decided to call it a day. Stone Roses had by then spent five years and an unknown number of the record label mogul David Geffen's millions on the recording of their second and last album Second Coming ñan album that neither commercially or in quality became what everybody had hoped it would be. ñIt's a little sad. We never lived out our potential, we could have become so much better but we just couldn't bother to make the effort at the end. After all the court cases (against the label Silvertone) we had lost a lot of the magic.
What would you have done if you hadn't joined Primal Scream?
- God ...I don't know. I could have been in jail, dealing drugs... I'd rather not think about it. To join Primal Scream was the best thing that could happen to me. In some ways it saved my life.
What is the biggest misinterpretation of Primal Scream?
- That we are a bunch of psychotic heroin addicts. Maybe once, but definitely not now. Sure, we smoke weed and stuff sometimes, but there are no longer any real heroin problems in the band. I don't think drugs are gonna kill anyone in Primal Scream. We are a much cleaner band now than we've ever been, and I think the reason is that we were forced to grow up. We are not that young anymore, we are more like fathers, Andrew and Bobby have a kid each, Robert Young has two I guess it makes you look at life in a different perspective. The time has come to be men.
So after the concerts this summer are you gonna go straight to the hotel room, have a cup of tea and go to bed early?
- Ha ha ha...no! When we are touring it's party time for the Sreams. But we might not party as insanely as we used to.
You have changed the title of 'Bomb the Pentagon' to 'Rise'?
- Yeah if we had released it as 'Bomb the Pentagon', there would probably have been riots in the streets and we would be kicked out from our label immediately. We still have too much to say before that happens. Besides, it was ordinary people who died.. if you don't take the Pentagon into consideration, and it would have been wrong and lack of respect to them. It's a shame really, cause I think Bomb the Pentagon was a fantastic song and it was written before the September 11th. Later this happened and it fucked us up a bit.
How do you think the world is gonna change after September 11th
- USA has got green light to bomb whatever country in the world they like and the rest of the world is lined up behind them. George W Bush is a cowboy and I haven't felt the world as such a dangerous place since Reagan had his finger on the trigger. These are dangerous times we live in. Since 1946 USA has been involved in almost every war on the planet and I think they were to biase(?) to believe they could be attacked themselves. That anyone in USA could do this. But it's their own fault. If they hadn't put their nose in everybody else's businesses then they would have been left alone.
You attacked NATO quite heavily on the last album.
- We tried to stand up against their military imperialism. We love America and we love the people and we love the music. We just don't like the way their government treats the rest of the world. It is like every country have become airbase for American and British planes on their way to bomb some third world country. There has to be some kind of opposition against these people otherwise they will just continue to kill people all over the world and take control over everything. Someone have to tell them to go to hell and leave the world alone. I have read that you asked vice Prime Minister John Prescott to tell Tony Blair that you would leather him if you had the chance. Yeah, I saw Prescott in Burger King of all places and went up to him and yelled at him cause the guy is a traitor and Tony Blair is fucking cheat. When he got elected he was talking he was talking a lot about the British music industry and Stone Roses and OasisÖ something he just did to get votes from young people. He is a c**t. If I ever see him I'll beat him up.
You don't like living in Tony Blair 's England?
- I don't like living in England at all. But unfortunately this is where we live and we have to do our music here. Hopefully some time we'll be successful enough to leave. How is the state of British music then? To be honest, most of it is pulling my pants down [this is what it actually says in Swedish it just means that it's fucking boring] All these bands- Starsailor and Travis and fucking Coldplay. It's so safe so spineless. They take no risks. I like music that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand straight up and makes me feel like I'm being injected with electricity. But there are no bands in Great Britain who makes music like that today.
What music do you listen to?
- The Hives and Soundtrack of Our Lives. They have made me happy because there are still bands who make real rock music. I really like what is going on in Sweden at the moment. We are gonna bring Sahara Hotnights with us as support for some of our gigs. They are rock'n'roll.

- Ha ha ha, did he say that? He only listens to Swedish bands? Well, if he says so, I suppose it's true, Bobby laughs. ñ You're not gonna write this now, then It will look like we're trying to please the Swedish crowd all the time, but when Sweden beat England in the world cup Andrew Innes [guitarist in Primal Scream and Scotsman] is planning to print yellow and blue T-shirts with the result on the back just to piss off the English. If only Teddy Lucic had got that ball in, Primal Sream could have made the best T-shirts this summer. Instead we have do with the fact that they probably have made the greatest album of the summer.

Written by Thomas Nilson. Phots by Johannes Giotas

Originally appeared in Groove number 5, 2002.
Copyright © Groove.

A special thanks to Sanne Andersen who translated from Swedish to Flemish to English.

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